River Ramble road race replaces Aamble, set for Nov. 11

Friday

Oct 5, 2012 at 9:51 AM

The Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountain triathlon that took place last Sunday is covered in the center spread of this week's issue, but another event is coming that gives a different group of runners who live in the region an opportunity to get out in the brilliant fall weather and compete.

The Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountain triathlon that took place last Sunday is covered in the center spread of this week's issue, but another event is coming that gives a different group of runners who live in the region an opportunity to get out in the brilliant fall weather and compete.

Registration is under way for the inaugural River Ramble Fall Classic that takes place starting at 9 a.m. Nov. 11 in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area near Shawnee-on-Delaware. Runners may have remembered the Aardvark Aamble founded and headed by Dick Haines that took place in the fall the previous three years. Register by Oct. 26 by picking up a form at host business Ready, Set, Run specialty running store in Stroudsburg and fill it out there or mail it in with the $25 fee and you'll get a commemorative hooded sweatshirt.

Haines has since retired and the race now is run by Trish D'Imperio, who owns Ready, Set, Run. D'Imperio managed the Aardvark shop for outfitting runners on Main Street in Stroudsburg that closed in June so the owners could concentrate on the other location in Bethlehem. Once that closed, Aardvark had no store in the area to host the race. D'Imperio, who managed the Stroudsburg store for seven years, decided to open a new one down the street just a few days later to meet the needs of a running community that she said has grown the last seven years. She also wanted to keep the race alive.

"It's going good. People are looking forward to it," said D'Imperio, who ran in eight marathons, including Run for the Red held in Stroudsburg in May, and launched a women's running group in Monroe County. "We've gotten lots of inquiries and people are registering."

As in the past, it starts and ends at Smithfield Beach, but distances have been changed. Instead of a five-mile run, it's a 5K, making it nearly two miles shorter, A 10K race (6.2 miles) has been added. D'Imperio said the course will run along River Road northbound as in the past, but the turnaround for the 5K will be earlier.

Awards will be presented to top performers in seven different age groups for each race as well as top overall male and female at each distance.

There also will be a longer, two-mile walk on the McDade Trail, shortened from the three-mile distance of the past. The walk has a $20 fee for adults with a free hoodie if done by Oct. 26 and is $10 for kids ages 5-12 with a special gift.

Finally, instead of the Pre-Aamble, there is a Pre-Ramble nature walk for young children and their families.

D'Imperio can be reached at the shop to answer questions at 570-424-6431. She has an eight-person organizing committee and a large number of volunteers that she hopes will grow to the 100 of last year's race by race day.

If you love to run, don't miss this one. D'Imperio's heart is set on making this a great race.

CAN BE CUT HERE

Also, for bicyclists, there is the Black Bear Century 4 race that runs Oct. 14 in the area through the national park and Delaware Water Gap borough into New Jersey.

Speaking of running, some board members took issue with last week's column endorsing resurfacing the track oval but not the football field, saying that I only limited my thoughts to football and that many other sports are played on it.

Largely why I never mentioned those sports is because, in my 42 years of reporting high school sporting events, fields are not damaged from soccer and field hockey games, even during adverse weather. And even in the case of rain postponements, there also are so few postponements that I like the idea of keeping the game natural.

In an average fall season, five dates will be postponed. Is that worth spending hundreds of thousands of dollars? That explained, having attended a number of board meetings, including that one where the idea was discussed, may not leave my perspective "convoluted."